In light of recent art-historical obsessions with technology, information theory, vision, and modes of attention—not to mention our acute cultural preoccupation with all things scientific—it is perhaps unsurprising that the ICP has devoted a number of shows to such topical themes. Eugenics, genetics, and the discovery of DNA all figured prominently in past installments of its five-show series “Imaging the Future: The Intersection of Science, Technology, and Photography,” curated by Carol Squiers. Even so, this final show managed to astonish in a way that its predecessors did not. Tucked away in the institution’s lower rear gallery, “The Art of Science” would have been better and more suitably installed in a Big Pharma lobby. To be sure, the art of science here looked a lot like propaganda.

Disavowing a Mr. Wizard’s World amateur ethos for the expert status of corporate biotech, the show’s